We didn't hear about the 2008 strike, however. We did about the 2008 "food riots." CNN News reported, Riots instability spread as food prices skyrocket,
April 14, 2008. The words "strike" and "union" were never used, nor
was there any reference to the basis for the strikes, a demand for a
living wage. Huffington Post carried a lengthy article on the events, Egypt Grants Bonuses After Deadly Food Riots,
April 8, 2008. The word "strike" appeared just once but the article
failed to include anything mentioning a "union" or labor conflict.

Food is critical. But the desire to earn a living wage to afford
food is more fundamental to the Egyptian people. They don't want a
handout from their leaders, they want the right to determine their own
future by organizing an independent labor movement. That desire flowed
into the streets of Egypt in a movement larger than the union effort but
the history of worker struggles is a key part of the history of this
revolution. On January 30, 2010, workers in Tahrir Square formed the Egyptian Federation for Independent Unions.
The organization is separate from the official union and in full
defiance of current labor law adopted by the Mubarak regime.

Why Fundamental Rights Matter

The Egyptian people didn't require any special training to know what
they deserved. The ability to assemble, plan, organize, and attempt to
effect change in a civilized fashion emerged before conditions became
intolerable.

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The workers in Mahalla didn't need a year at the Harvard School of
Government to learn their rights. The desire was fundamental. No study
of Maslow's hierarchy of needs was required to tell them that there was
more than just survival at stake. They knew that meeting the basic
needs required an exercise of the more fundamental rights of freedom of
association and action in a society that respected their rights as
citizens.

Finishing the Work

There are great powers and commercial interests lurking at the edges
of this remarkable movement. The call for an "orderly transition" is
just another form of paternalism. What is orderly? Time enough for
Mubarak or his proxy to stay long enough to rig another election? Time
enough for things to cool down enough to walk just a few steps forward
rather than a revolution? Time enough for U.S. and European Union
leaders to install a new leader to deliver what Mubarak did so well for
30 years?

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The fundamental rights and the exercise of those rights by a
sovereign people should be inviolable, particularly in a part of the
world where the West claims that it is promoting democracy. The
Egyptian revolution has at it's core, the demand for the elimination of a
massively corrupt government and the opportunity to create an honest
one in its place. That is a goal of people everywhere, a goal that will
be met if those few obsessed with control for their own purposes would
just step aside.

END

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